In the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to have successful event, you need to have a solid blend of big names, exciting fighters and good luck. Over the years, the promotion has seen numerous events go from amazing to mediocre because of multiple injuries and in the case of one event, was forced to cancel an event. When it comes to the events that did go through and feature a stacked card, what are the best UFC events of all time?

5. UFC 47

When this event was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, it featured some of the biggest names in the sport at that time. Chuck Liddell, Robbie Lawler, Tito Ortiz, Nick Diaz and Andrei Arlovski competed at this event and helped to wow all the fans in attendance.

In the second fight of the night, the upstart Diaz took on the veteran Lawler. It was a fight that many expected Lawler to get the win in, but it was the cocky and arrogant Diaz that got the victory after a right hook laid out “Ruthless.”

In the final fight he had before beating Tim Sylvia to win the interim UFC heavyweight title, Arlovski got his third straight KO or TKO win after taking out Wesley Correira in the second round.

In the main event, it was the biggest grudge match in the history of the sport when Ortiz and Liddell squared off for the first time. In the second round of this battle, it was Liddell who walked away the victory after knocking out Ortiz at: 38 of the second round.

4. UFC 1

The first-ever UFC event will always be on the list of the greatest events of all time. The event saw the first eight-man tournament in mixed martial arts history and the winner of the tournament surprised more of the fans in attendance at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Color., as well as those watching at home on pay per view.

At the end of the night, the man who had his hands raised three times to become the tournament winner was Brazilian Jiu Jitsu guru and future UFC Hall of Famer, Royce Gracie. In his first fight, he needed just 2:18 to submit Art Jimmerson. In his second fight, he knocked off another future Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock in just 57 seconds to advance to the finals where he submitted Gerard Gordeau at the 1:44 mark of the first round.

3. The Ultimate Fighter Finale 1

If it wasn’t for the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the sport of MMA might not be where it is today. It was that night that fans were witness to one of the greatest fights in the history of the sport.

In the main event of the event, Rich Franklin got the TKO in against Shamrock and in the first fight of the main card, Diego Sanchez became the TUF 1 middleweight division winner after getting the TKO win in the first round against Kenny Florian. While those two fights garnered a lot of attention, not many fights created as much of a stir as the light heavyweight finals between Forrest Griffin and Stephen Bonnar.

During their 15 minute war, the ratings for the event actually increased as MMA fans from all over were calling friends to tell them to watch the fight. It was a fight that could have gone either way, but at the end of the day, it was awarded to Griffin via unanimous decision. It propelled his career towards the light heavyweight title and propelled the sport to new heights than ever before.

2. UFC 92

A sold out MGM Grand Garden Arena was the home for this stacked card featuring two title fights as well as several other MMA stars like Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Griffin, Rashad Evans and Wanderlei Silva.

One of the best fights on this card featured two former PRIDE legends, Jackson and Silva. The fight didn’t last as long as fans were hoping as Rampage pulled out the KO victory with a single punch, taking out “The Axe Murderer.”

The first title fight on the card was for the interim UFC heavyweight title with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir. Mir was hoping to reclaim his previous title belt, but in the second round, Nogueira got the TKO win with punches. In the main event, Griffin made the only title defense of his UFC career against Evans. Evans was a former TUF winner himself and their fight made it into the third round before he got the win. Evans rocked Griffin in the third round and got the TKO win to become the world champion.

1. UFC 52

UFC 52 was the first event held after the finale for TUF 1. The main event featured a rematch between Liddell and Randy Couture for the UFC light heavyweight title. The two men coached opposite of each other on TUF 1 and after the amazing success of the TUF 1 finale, this event was built to succeed. Also on the card was a rematch between Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg that is considered one of the greatest fights ever.

The first Hughes vs. Trigg fight ended with Hughes getting the victory via Standing Rear Naked Choke. In the second fight, Trigg hit Hughes low and as Hughes back away, Trigg pounced but the champion didn’t give up. Trigg locked on his own Rear Naked Choke, but Hughes reversed it and eventually connected with it himself and beat Trigg with the same move he used two years earlier to retain his UFC welterweight title.

When Liddell and Couture met in the main event, it was a fight that was highly anticipated but didn’t fully live up to the hype. Just 126 seconds into the fight, Liddell had earned the KO win and was running around the Octagon and was crowned the new UFC light heavyweight champion. It was the beginning of Liddell’s run at the top of the division and the sport.

Hobson Lopes has been writing about sports for several years in several different platforms. He was a beat writer for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, a platform owned by Yahoo. He specializes in MMA, MLB, NFL, and fantasy sports writing.